Monday, May 2, 2011

Usama bin Laden's Death: A Conspiracy Theorists Dream

Take a look at any of the comments on news stories of Usama bin Laden's death and you will be inundated with conspiracy theories about how this is some political scheme or how it is some massive government plot to misinform the public. A facebook group titled "USMC Hangout" posted this on facebook in response to the news: "So they say Osama is dead. Do you want proof or will you just take the government's word for it?" The comments on this post are troubling. From claims that bin Laden has been dead since 2004 to people tying this story in with the "birther" madness, it reads like a conspiracy theorists guidebook. However, there is already proof that it was, in fact, bin Laden who was killed: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8488004/Osama-Bin-Ladens-body-identified-by-sisters-brain.html

People are questioning the dumping of the body at sea as if doing so is somehow admittance of a conspiracy. Admittedly, dumping the body at sea seems like a weird thing to do. However, one only needs to think a little bit to understand why they would not want to bring the body all the way back to the U.S. For example, if they hang on to the body it could cause a security issue for whatever place his body ended up being held. Or, hanging on to the body could enrage his supporters and encourage them to retaliate against Americans anywhere in the world (not that the killing of bin Laden doesn't already do this). It doesn't matter what the government does in this situation, there will always be people who question the story despite there being DNA proof that he is dead. That is one of those science things that people seem to have such a hard time grasping...

Finally, I say to those conspiracy theorists out there, are you really going to question the integrity of the service members who participated in this raid? I understand not believing everything you are told by the government, but questioning this story, which is verified by DNA evidence, the military, the intelligence community and many governments across the globe, to me just seems silly and a waste of time. The man is dead. We can all be thankful that he will no longer be around to inspire people to commit violence in his name. Now we just have to deal with the people who are angry that he was finally terminated at the hands of some of the baddest men on the planet.

If you have doubts about this story, please feel free to leave comments justifying your beliefs. I eagerly await your opinions but I should warn you, if you do not produce evidence backing up your viewpoints do not expect me to take your word for it. After all, conspiracy theorists are the ones who claim that the government's word is not sufficient, why should their word be any different?

honestly i think the more reasonable and logical conspiracy/lie is that they actually did not dump his body but they still have it but they don't want anyone to know. I answered that i didn't know whether he is dead or not because honestly i don't know but i believe more then likely that he is dead. That would be a pretty big and somewhat pointless project to perform.

Thanks for the comments. Philio, I agree that your theory is the more likely conspiracy. However, I don't think we'll ever know if the government did hang onto his body. I don't see why they would though. It makes sense to get rid of the body for good.